Coal-car gripper



(No Model.)

R. F. BENNETT-8U`M. L. GEORGE. COAL GAR GRIPPER.

No. 549,893, Patented Nov. 19, 1,895.

wlTN EssEs.

UNITED STATES.l

" PATENT EEICE.

RUFUS F. BENNETT, OF COAL CREEK, AND MILFORD L. GEORGE, OF

' BRICEVILLE, TENNESSEE.

coAL-CAR GRIPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 549,893, dated November 19, 1895.

Application filed September 27, 1895. Serial No. 563,871. (No model.) i v To all whom t may concern,.-

Beit known that we, RUFUS F. BENNETT, of Coal Creek, and MILFORD L. GEORGE, of Briceville, in the county of Anderson, in the State of Tennessee, citizens of the United States of America, have invented a new and useful Cable-Gripper for Coal-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention has relation to improvements in cable-grippers for coal-cars adapted to be used on or in connection with endless cables for pulling cars, and the object is to simplify and improve the existing art by providing a device of the kind named and for the purposes mentioned which is certain in operation, cheaply and strongly constructed, and readily and conveniently applied and disengaged in operative connection to the car and cable.

Our invention consists in the` novel construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter fully speciiied, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

We have fully and clearly illustrated our invention in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a side view in elevation of the complete gripper, showing it in clamped position holding the cable. Eig.y 2 is a similar view taken from the reverse side to that shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an end view of the device. Fig.flis a view showing the gripper connected to the car and cable.

A designates a U -shaped bar or bracket of such strength and size as to withstand the strain and wear to which it may be subjected when gripping the cable and pulling the car or cars. The arms of the U-shaped bracket have their ends 1 2 bent laterally and formed with curved or rounded cable-seats 3, adapted to take in and rest on the cable, as indicated in the drawings in Fig. 1. The cable-seats 3 may be lined with some suitable soft metal, as 4, in order that the eects-of frictional wear and contact with the cable may be obviated.

B designates the draw-bar of the gripper secured to the arms of the bracket by means of fastening bolts and nuts 5 6, a keeper 7 being held by thesaid fastening-bolts to the opposite side or face of the U-shaped bracket, so that a space or slot is formed or provided between the keeper and part of the draw-bar extending across between' the arms ofthe bracket and so that the slot or space between these elements shall form a guide-slot for the grip-piece C. The draw-bar Bis extended a suitable length, as indicated at 7, toconnect with the coupling head or bar of the car, substantially as shown in the drawings, and is provided with a strap or keeper 8, couplingpin-holes being made through the strap and draw-bar adjacent to the ends thereof to take a suitable coupling-pin 9, by which the device is coupled to the coupling-head of the car, as shown, whereby the gripper is sustained and supported, held from dropping down too far, and prevented from turning over laterally.

C designates a grip-piece, consisting of a isubstantial bar of. metal having the lower end bent laterally, as at 10, and formed with a cable-seat 11, to take under and grip the cable in conjunction with the ends of the U -shaped bracket,.and having its upper end bent laterally, as at 11X, and provided with a bolt-hole through which a threaded bolt 12, sustaining the grip-piece, is projected, and adjustably secured thereto by means of upper and lower threaded nuts 13 14.

D designates the gripping-lever by which the grip is effected on the cable. This lever D is fulcrumed to the arch of the bracket A, and has its short arm 15 bent upward vand slightly backward from a vertical line to lock the grip when the lever is thrown down, and is connected to the bolt 12 by a bolt 16, projected through the end of the arm 15 and an eye or hole in the sustaining-bolt 12, substantially as shown in the drawings. The long arm of the lever D terminates ina s uitable handhold 17.

E designates the endless cable, which may be of any of the usual materials and of any size desired, and moved or drawn by any wellknown means. Y

, The application of the gripper to operative use is made by coupling the draw-bar B to the car, then throwing up the lever D to separate the gripping ends of the bracket and the gripping-piece, then arranging the cable in the seats formed to receive it, and then pulling` down the lever, which movements draw IOO bolt of the grip-piece can be made to grip the cable with any force desired and to draw light or heavy loads. The device is equally applicable to metal cables or to rope cables,

and it will through the instrumentality of the rigid or stiff draw-bar hold the ears in the relation to the cable, either in ascending or descending grades, this function or feature of utility dispensing with the usual roperiders required in grippers of sonic constructions and connections. It will also be lobserved that the gripper can be released from the cable at any time while the car is being drawn along and the cable is in motion. It will be further observed that two grippers may be used on the same train of cars, one being used for drawing the tra-in and the other being connected to the tail 4end in reversed position on the cable, thus holding the cars in proper relation and position while descending grades and obviating the necessity of using rope-riders to apply brakes or other means to prevent the tcars from running up on each other.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A gripper forcoal-cars, comprising a U- shaped bracket for-med with ends adapted to set on the cable, a drawbar extending across the arms of the bracket and formed at its free end with a coupling device to connect it to the car, a keeper arranged across the bracket, fastening-bolts to secure the keeper and the draw-back to the arms of the bracket, a lever fulcrumed to the arch of the bracket, and a grip-piece formed with a grip-seat in its lower end and arranged to slide vertically between the keeper and the draw-bar and having its upper end connected to the short arm ol' the lever.

2. A gripper for coal-cars comprising a U- shaped bracket A having its ends bent laterally and formed with cable-seats, the drawbar B secured to and across the bracket, a keeper 7 secured across the bracket parallel with the draw-bar, the grip-piece C arranged to slide vertically between the-draw-bar and the keeper and having its lower end bent laterally and formed with a cable-seat, and its upper end bent laterally outward, a lever D fulcrulned to the arch of the U-shaped bracket, and a sustaining-bolt having its upper end hung to the short arm of the lever and its lower end adjustably connected to the upper end of the grip-piece, substantially as speciiicd.

In witness whereof we have hereto set our hands in the presence of two attesting wit- IIGSSGS.

RUFUS F. BENNETT. MILFORD L. GEORGE. Attest:

J. W. HoskINs, R. B. ADKINs. 

